1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computing networks such as peer-to-peer networks. It more particularly relates to data transfer among computers such that a search space may be expanded by increasing the time to live for a query message based on responses to the search.
2. Description of Related Art
Peer-to-peer (“P2P”) networks are most commonly used for transferring music files over the Internet. While swapping music files has made P2P networks popular, it is expected that such networks will become increasingly popular for transferring other types of files.
The location of data (e.g., files) in the network may not be known beforehand and is rarely centralized. A search request is spread through the network until it reaches the location containing the requested data or until the request “dies.” The requested data may be located in P2P nodes associated with a subset of users. As the P2P networks gain more popularity, more users will connect to the network, causing increased network traffic and potential congestion.
The addition of new users to the network is desirable to the extent that it represents new sources of data. Adding users, however, does not guarantee that the location of the potential new sources of data will be easily accessible to all other users. For example, a request may die before reaching the location of a requested file. Consequently, there is a need in the art for methods and systems that enable the efficient data search in a P2P network without grossly affecting the network's traffic.